Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report
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| Find Along with Purchase by Mark G. |
Exactly 10 years ago I set out to amass an investment in silver. I deducted that on my budget silver was a better investment than gold and I concluded that as an investment I would invest in bullion. I planned on buying 1,000 ounces in 100 ounce bars over time. For my first purchase I thought I had to find a dealer in the area. I did, but when I went there they did not have 100 ounce bars so they put together a 100 ounces from 5 and 10 once bars and I very much over paid at about $17 an oz. in 2015. I was never happy with that mixed lot but had to hang on to it. I finally completed my (10) 100 oz. bar collection not including this lot. Yesterday I took the 100 ounces to West Bay Trading with the intentions of selling and reinvesting in a shipwreck coin medallion jewelry. I had a beautiful gold chain I found metal detecting so I wanted to pair it with a coin. They paid me $3,500 for the silver so I purchased a beautiful Gold Spanish Colonial 1 Escudo in 14K gold (same as chain). It’s a “Land Treasure Coin” so it has never been in the salt water and is in VF (Very Fine) condition. I wanted it in Spanish coinage to match my 8 Reale I found metal detecting so now I am a proud owner of 2 over 300 year old coins. I am giving it to the wife for our anniversary.
Clarification: Mark did not mean to say that the escudo was 14K. He meant the chain.
Thanks for sharing Mark.
Continuing on the subject of metals, here are some charts on prices.
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| Gold Chart from 1990 to Present. |
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| Silver Chart from 1990 to Present. |
Silver is now about 80 cents per gram or $39/oz.
I remember its previous highs when the Hunt brothers manipulated the prices of silver. It seems to be approaching those levels again.
Here is the history of that from Copilot.
Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, heirs to a Texas oil fortune, began buying massive amounts of silver in the early 1970s, initially as a hedge against inflation.
By 1979, they had accumulated over 100 million ounces of silver—about one-third of the world’s supply not held by governments.
Their purchases included physical silver and futures contracts, which they insisted on taking delivery for, rather than settling in cash.
Silver skyrocketed from $6.08 per ounce in January 1979 to a record high of $49.45 per ounce on January 18, 1980, with futures briefly hitting $50.35 per ounce.
This was a 713% increase in just over a year, driven largely by the Hunts’ aggressive buying.
On March 27, 1980, silver prices collapsed by over 50% in a single day, plunging from $21.62 to $10.80 per ounce.
The Hunts couldn’t meet margin calls, triggering a financial panic that threatened major brokerage firms and banks.
A consortium of banks had to step in with a $1.1 billion line of credit to prevent broader market collapse.
The brothers were later fined $10 million each, banned from trading commodities, and declared bankruptcy.
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| Copper Prices from 2000 to Present. |
Not as much as the others, but still worth something.
As my uncle used to say, "Watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."
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From a Mel Fisher Treasures email.
Emerald and Silver discovered on Atocha site!
Member Chris discovered a beautiful, dark emerald during yesterday’s dive — talk about a showstopper! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, a fragment of a silver plate was also uncovered earlier in the day by Mel Fisher's Treasures crew.
We’re definitely onto something — this area is proving to be full of potential, and our Members and Crew are doing an incredible job uncovering pieces of history.
Stay tuned… the best could be yet to come!
Today’s the day!
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Don't forget to watch for emeralds on the Treasure Coast.
For example, there was that big ermerald found on the beach at Golden Sands.
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The Treasure Coast surf has been so flat for so long this year, I'm getting a feeling. This is a great time to make start thinking about your storm preparations before everybody else gets into it. I know it's a little early but why wait.
You don't want to be facing this unprepared.
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For now, things are still calm, in fact very calm.
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| Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce Inlet Area from SurfGuru.com. |